Immediate Family

About Boston, slave of William Swain

Prince Boston, the uncle of Absalom, was born into slavery on Nantucket in 1750, son of Boston and Maria, who were slaves of William Swain, a prominent Nantucket merchant. In 1773 Prince Boston made history by obtaining his freedom from the Swain family through a lengthy court battle. William Swain had freed Prince’s parents in 1760, with the stipulation that each of their children serve the Swain family until age twenty-eight, which for Prince would have been 1778. (1)